Crowdfunding has been hailed as a panacea for anyone with a great idea or worthy cause but lacking the necessary capital to get projects off the ground. A derivative of the concept of crowdsourcing, crowdfunding relies on many small monetary ‘pledges’ instead of one or two major capital contributions from established investors.

Johannesburg has won a moral victory over Cape Town in the apparent battle for recognition as the country’s leading tech development destination after hosting MIT’s acclaimed Accelerating Information Technology Innovation programme in July this year. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) established the programme in 2000 to help promote a culture of development in emerging economies such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and now South Africa.